AUNT CINDY came at seven o'clock to get breakfast, and finding the house closed and no one at home, supposed Mrs. Lenoir and Marion had remained at the Cameron House for the night. She sat down on the steps, waited grumblingly an hour, and then hurried to the hotel to scold her former mistress for keeping her out so long.
Accustomed to enter familiarly, she thrust her head into the dining-room, where the family were at breakfast with a solitary guest, muttering the speech she had been rehearsing on the way:
"I lak ter know what sort er way dis—whar's Miss Jeannie?"
Ben leaped to his feet.
"Isn't she at home?"
"Been waitin' dar two hours."
"Great God!" he groaned, springing through the door and rushing to saddle the mare. As he left he called to his father: "Let no one know till I return."
At the house he could find no trace of the crime he had suspected. Every room was in perfect order. He
